Ancient Eden - Chapter 107
~End of chapter 106
It was still very early in the morning, and the surrounding mountains and trees were shrouded in a steaming layer of thin morning mist.
A path appeared at her feet that seemed to lead to the direction of the stream. On both sides of the path, there were piles of freshly pulled out vegetation and weeds, and the air was filled with the faint scent of grass.
Li Mang was busy making the path not far ahead. His figure was obscured by the morning mist, looking somewhat blurry.
Chapter 107
(34.2)
The outer cave was the place where she planned to cook food over the fire in the future. She wanted to build a fire and roast the few pieces of meat left over from last night and give them to Li Mang later. Walking over to the stone platform where she had put her things, she realized that there was already a bag of freshly picked fruit, with dewdrops, piled on top of it, and on the ground there were a few freshly hunted animals.
The sun hadn’t even come out yet, but while she was still asleep, he had already done so much.
Mu Qing used the flint and tinder he left behind to start a fire, and gradually lit a fire.
A few days before leaving the settlement, because she wanted to cook something for Li Mang herself, she had just learned how to light a fire. Previously, she noticed that the people here gathered a kind of grass they called “fire weed”. When it was fresh and moist, they tore off the fluffy cotton-like layer on the back of the fire weed, and then dried it in the hot sun. When they needed to use it, they piled it up into a ball, and then hit two flint stone against one another close to the ball.
The sparks that came out of the friction would then ignite the fluff.
At first, she was a bit clumsy, and her hands ended up being burned by the sparks, but now she was much more proficient.
After roasting the meat, Mu Qing called out to him twice. Li Mang heard her and quickly came over, and then the two of them ate the rest of yesterday’s meat with the fruits.
As they ate, the two people spoke slowly, and Mu Qing learned what he was going to do today.
He was going to dig a trench from the canyon’s access road to here, just like the one on the outskirts of the settlement. But it didn’t have to be dug in a big circle like there.
The terrain at the bottom of this valley was very protective, with steep cliffs on both sides, the streams flowing through and the large river downstream were converging together to form a natural moat, separating the valley bottom from the jungle in the distance, and after circling around the cliffs, there was a large field of thistles spreading out all the way to the bank of the large river in the distance.
With such a field of thistles, it was most likely that no animal would dare to venture into it, except for birds. So, as long as traps were set up as a barrier at the entrance of the canyon at the west side, it would be very difficult for ordinary large beasts to break in from the outside.
After he was done eating, Li Mang quickly stood up to go outside. He had to hurry. Only after solving the issue of safety, could he be assured that, when he goes out to hunt, Mu Qing would be safe left alone here.
Digging a trench required tools. There were no tools readily available here. But this was not a problem for Li Mang. The jungle was filled with rotting animal carcasses of all sizes. The day before, he picked up a thick piece of shoulder blade and brought it with him, and now it was used for digging.
He also sharpened one end of a piece of bone on a flat stone surface, turning it into the shape of a blade, then among the leftover trees he cut down the day before, he chose one with suitable thickness and split apart the lower end with a stone axe, and inserted it into a hole he made with a sharp stone into the sunken part of that piece of bone, and then nailed it down. A tool similar to a hoe was made.
It was simple and crude, but very practical.
Mu Qing looked at Li Mang with admiration. She was just a little regretful that there were no copper and iron tools here yet, if there were, he would have been able to do the work with less effort.
When Li Mang looked up, he saw her expression, and reached out to rub her hair like usual, smiling as he headed for the entrance to the canyon.
Mu Qing followed him and saw him stop at the corner of the canyon where they came from yesterday. The distance between the two sides there was the narrowest, no more than the width of four or five people standing side by side, and the ground was loose, crumbling and overgrown with weeds and wildflowers. It looked like he was going to dig a ditch here.
Translator : Laura
Other novels : His One Love & After Being Kidnapped by the Crown Prince & Unaware that My Legitimate Sister is My Husband
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